Larvik is a town and municipality in Vestfold county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the city of Larvik. The municipality of Larvik has about 41,364 inhabitants, and covers 530 km2.
The city of Larvik was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt). The city of Stavern, and the rural municipalities of Brunlanes, Hedrum, and Tj�lling were merged into the municipality of Larvik on January 1st, 1988.
Larvik has a daily ferry connection to Hirtshals, Denmark.
The Norse form of the name must have been Lagarv�k. The first element is the genitive case of l?gr m 'water; river' (now called Numedalsl�gen river), the last element is v�k f 'cove, wick'. The meaning is "the cove at the mouth of (Numedals)l�gen". Prior to 1889, the name was written "Laurvik" or "Laurvig".
The coat of arms is from modern times, and was granted in 1989. It is blue with a silver-colored mast with three sails to represent the maritime traditions of the municipality
